1. Ennius[182] first invented 1,100 shorthand signs. The use of the signs was that scribes wrote whatever was said in public meeting or in court, several standing by at one time and deciding among themselves how many words and in what order each should write. At Rome Tullius Tiro, Cicero’s freedman, was the first to invent shorthand, but only for prepositions.[183] [182] The grammarian. [183] _Notas sed tantum praepositionum._ Probably abbreviations for prepositions and other connectives that were in frequent use. 2. After him Vipsanius Philargius and Aquila, Maecenas’s freedman, each added a number of signs. Then Seneca, collecting them all and arranging them and increasing their number, raised the total to 5,000. The signs (_notae_) are so-called because they _denote_ words or syllables by marks,[184] and bring them again to the _notice_ of readers, and they who have learned them are now properly called _notarii_. [184] _Praefixis characteribus._ Chapter 27. On orthography. 1. Orthography is Greek, and it means in the Latin correct writing; for ὀρθή in the Greek means correct, and γραφή means writing. This branch of knowledge teaches us how we ought to write. For as the art[185] treats of the inflection of the parts of speech, so orthography deals with the knowledge of writing, as, for example, _ad_, when it is a preposition, takes the letter _d_; when it is a conjunction, the letter _t_. [185] Among the seven liberal arts grammar is the art _par excellence_. 2. _Haud_, when it is an adverb of negation, is terminated by the letter _d_ and is aspirated at the beginning; but when it is a conjunction, it is written with the letter _t_ and is without aspiration. 7. Forsitan ought to be written with _n_ at the end, because its uncorrupted form is _forte si tandem_. Chapter 29. On etymology. 1. Etymology is the derivation of words,[186] when the force of a verb or a noun is ascertained through interpretation. This Aristotle called σύμβολον, and Cicero, _notatio_, because it explains the names of things;[187] as, for example, _flumen_ is so called from _fluere_, because it arose from flowing. [186] _Cf. Quintilian_, 1, 6, 28. [187] Quia nomina et verba rerum nota facit. 2. A knowledge of etymology is often necessary in interpretation, for, when you see whence a name has come, you grasp its force more quickly. For every consideration of a thing is clearer when its etymology is known. Not all names, however, were given by the ancients in accordance with nature, but certain also according to whim, just as we sometimes give slaves and estates names according to our fancy.